Athletes' Lip Service: Much Ado For Nothing

May 3, 1986|By Bob Fowler of the Sentinel staff

It was after his latest heavyweight title bout, and loss, to Michael Spinks that Larry Holmes revealed himself as an eloquent athletic statesman. Amid the glitter of Las Vegas gambling casinos, he was enlightening -- the Churchill of boxing.

Few recognized, or even realized, Holmes' talent to communicate dramatically and fluently. Then he turned a routine press conference last month into a memorable happening by making one statement . . . brilliant for its awareness and simplicity.

''He does have a way with words,'' an American counterpart could have replied.

Certainly, no one disagreed with Holmes.

He had claimed victory that morning, saying only the officials didn't agree he was the better man the previous night. And earlier in the week he had claimed judges were ''drunk and on the take'' when he first lost to Spinks.

However, Holmes isn't the only athlete nowadays who has a big mouth.

He has counterparts in baseball, football, all sports. In broadcast booths and club offices, too.

John McEnroe's tennis tirades are entertaining solely to his adoring father. Jimmy Connors' tantrums have only his mother's blessing.

In golf, Mac O'Grady has a terminal case of foot-in-mouth disease.

His latest mouthing-off occurred after PGA Tour Commissioner Deane Beman fined him $5,000, suspended him for six tournaments and placed him on probation for a year for conduct unbecoming a touring pro.

O'Grady responded, ''It's about time I took this tin-can bureaucrat Beman and cleaned his laundry in the federal courts.''

One of O'Grady's appeal procedures through the PGA Tour involves Beman. So the commissioner volunteered to step aside to speed up the process.

O'Grady and his attorney said they would consider such a move . . . that they had learned of it for the first time last week.

Well, at the Hertz Bay Hill Classic in March, Beman made the same proposal. O'Grady and his attorney said at that time they would agree to the plan.

Thus, O'Grady has a big mouth and a short memory.

Why not? He's receiving more media attention than at any previous time during his winless career.

Ed Whitson, a pitcher with the New York Yankees, is another with the big- mouth syndrome. He didn't like it when fans jeered him in Yankee Stadium, said he wanted to be traded.